1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to aerosol compositions containing fluorinated oils, which are used for lubricating applications. More particularly, the present invention relates to aerosol compositions including perfluoroalkylpolyether oils, which when sprayed under ambient conditions onto an substrate surface do not cause the substrate temperature to drop, thereby causing the moisture to freeze on the substrate and immobilize the composition.
2. Brief Description Of Related Technology
Perfluorinated oil lubricants have many desirable advantages over common petroleum-based lubricants. For instance, fluorinated lubricants are particularly useful in high temperature applications in which chemical resistance, thermostability, non-flammability and non-combustibility characteristics are desirable. Due to their inherent chemical inertness, they serve extremely well in applications involving the industrial maintenance, repair and operations areas ("MRO"), where lubricants are subjected to the extreme demands placed on machinery. Whereas elevated temperatures, aggressive chemicals, flammable conditions and airborne contaminants in typical MRO applications can quickly exceed the performance capabilities of many petroleum lubricants, fluorinated lubricants do not suffer from these limitations.
To date, the ability to deliver a perfluorinated or highly fluorinated oil lubricant in aerosol form has been hampered by several technical difficulties. To begin with, aerosol compositions generally require miscibility of the respective components in the compositions. Perfluorinated oils and other highly fluorinated oil lubricants are not generally soluble in most common organic solvents employed in aerosol compositions. Although perfluorinated solvent compounds may be used to dissolve perfluorinated oils into solution, these perfluorinated solvent materials are extremely expensive and not practical from a commercial industrial viewpoint. Thus, one technical difficulty to overcome is finding an inexpensive solvent composition, which both satisfies the miscibility requirement and quickly evaporates once the oil has been sprayed and delivered to a substrate. The solvent may desirably also possess a balance of other properties required of a commercially viable aerosol product such as being non-flammable and not combustible.
Moreover, when attempts to make aerosol compositions containing perfluorinated or highly fluorinated oils have been made, the resultant aerosol spray exhibited severe freezing of the composition on the substrate surface. The freezing of the composition when sprayed onto a part is problematic since the perfluorinated oil is not released from the frozen composition until the composition completely melts. This is particularly problematic for penetrating oil compositions designed to penetrate narrow gapped spaces, such as between the threads of a standard 3/16" (4.57 mm) nut and bolt. Even in instances where complete freezing does not occur, the viscosity of the oil-containing composition increases to a point where penetration of the composition into narrow gaps is not possible. When the frozen composition eventually melts, the flowability of the oil is still effected since its normal penetration flow has been interrupted.
At least for the reasons expressed above, aerosol compositions containing perfluorinated or highly fluorinated oils are not currently on the market. However, aerosol or spray forms of these compositions would not only be convenient to the user, but in many cases would be the best method of delivering the oil to a surface. It would be desirable to provide a solution to the above-mentioned problems, particularly as regards to finding a suitable and cost effective solvent for perfluorinated oils, as well as discovering the ratios of components in the resultant oil-containing composition which permit a non-freezing aerosol spray to be made.